Back on the Road.........

..........after nearly 4 months - and oh, does it feel good!!

It is MonoMonday: Transport so I thought this image suitable.

Now I need a couple of new tyres - that will be my trip today.

BOUI for today:-

1) Ferdinand Verbiest, a member of a Jesuit mission in China, built the first steam-powered vehicle around 1672 as a toy for the Chinese Emperor. It was of small enough scale that it could not carry a driver but it was, quite possibly the first working steam-powered vehicle ('auto-mobile').

2) The history of the automobile begins as early as 1769, with the creation of steam engined automobiles capable of human transport. In 1807, François Isaac de Rivaz designed the first car powered by an internal combustion engine running on fuel gas (hydrogen and oxygen), which -- although not in itself successful -- led to the introduction of the modern gasoline- or petrol-fuelled internal combustion engine in 1885.

3) The year 1886 is regarded the year of birth of the modern automobile - with the Benz Patent-Motorwagen, by German inventor Karl Benz.

4) The first speed limits in the United Kingdom were set by a series of restrictive Locomotive Acts (in 1861, 1865 and 1878). The 1861 Act introduced a 10 mph (16 km/h) limit (automobiles were in those days termed “light locomotives”). The 1865 (the 'red flag act') reduced the speed limit to 4 mph (6 km/h) in the country and 2 mph (3 km/h) in towns and required a man with a red flag or lantern to walk 60 yards (50 m) ahead of each vehicle, and warn horse riders and horse drawn traffic of the approach of a self-propelled machine. The 1878 Act removed the need for the flag and reduced the distance of the escort to 20 yards (20 m).

The weather is a mixture of sun and cloud - not too bad - the temperature a creditable 56 Deg.F.

Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth 11 is celebrating her 88th birthday today - I am sure everyone will wish her a Happy Day.
She usually spends her actual birthday privately, but the occasion is marked publicly by gun salutes in central London at midday: a 41 gun salute in Hyde Park, a 21 gun salute in Windsor Great Park and a 62 gun salute at the Tower of London.

Have a great Easter Monday - I'm just going to break open my Easter Egg!